Coffee drinking linked to longer life

NEW research suggests several cups of coffee a day might not be so bad for your health, and it may even be tied to a longer life.

People who drank at least six cups of coffee a day lowered their risk of premature death by as much as 15 percent, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The paper drew on a questionnaire sent out in 1995 and 1996 that included an item about coffee consumption.

Of the 402,260 older men and women the researchers tracked, about 42,000 had reported they drank no coffee, while 15,000 said they drank six cups or more a day. Most had two or three cups.

Using records, the researchers found that by 2008, about 52,000 of the study's subjects had died. Compared to those who drank no coffee, men who drank six or more cups of coffee a day had a 10 per cent lower risk of death than those who drank none. For women, their death risk was 15 per cent lower.

The researchers found it made no difference whether the subjects consumed regular of decaf coffee.

The authors cautioned that the link between coffee drinking and a longer life might not reflect a cause and effect relationship. They also noted coffee consumption was often associated with a number of unhealthy, death-hastening habits such as smoking, eating of red meat and heavy alcohol use.

"It offers some reassurance for coffee drinkers," Neal D Freedman, a National Cancer Institute researcher and the study's lead author, told The Wall Street Journal. Still, he warned, "we shouldn't say coffee is a fountain of youth or anything like that".

It is unclear what properties, if any, might cause coffee to have a positive impact on health, but the researchers noted coffee contains more than 1,000 compounds, including several helpful antioxidants.